University of Minnesota Athletics
Prescott Reflects on Rookie Season
11/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
By Ellen Larson, Athletic Communications Student Intern
MINNEAPOLIS -- Elyse Prescott just completed her freshman season on the Golden Gopher women's cross country team. The Urbandale, Iowa, native will continue her rookie season as a distance runner on the track in the spring, but for now she reflects on the achievements, adjustments, and highlights of her first cross country season.
Gopher Sports: How did the year go for the team?
Elyse Prescott: I think overall, it went pretty well. We're a young group, so we have a lot to build on. The future looks super bright, since we're all returning for next year. We're not losing anyone in our top 12, so that's really exciting. Overall, we had a lot of positives throughout the season.
GS: How did the year go for you personally?
EP: It was an up and down year, but it had some highlights. I did a lot of learning and a lot of growing. I think I definitely became a stronger runner, but I also have a lot of points that I want to improve on.
GS: What was your favorite moment of the season?
EP: Honestly, it was probably all the little moments we had during or after practice or in the locker room. I loved all the bonding activities. It's fun because we have three home meets. Hosting the Griak Invitational was great. We also had a lot of special moments on the travel trips.
GS: What was your biggest achievement this season?
EP: As a team, I think placing fourth at Big Tens was huge. Individually, I had my best race at Notre Dame. I placed second in the open 5K. That was really great.
GS: What are you goals for the future?
EP: I haven't thought too much about next fall yet, but hopefully I'll start to improve my times for track. I know next fall we want to keep bumping ourselves up at every race. We want to place higher at Big Tens and then make it back to the national meet.
GS: What made this team special?
EP: We just have so many fun personalities. Everyone is so different, yet we all get along so well. Like I said, the youth of the team is so much fun because we're all learning and every experience is different. We just all learn together, and we learn from our mistakes together. There's a lot of energy and it's a good time.
GS: What was the biggest adjustment going into college cross country?
EP: The biggest adjustment was probably just how many other good girls there are around you. It's so much fun coming to practice every day, knowing you're going to have 10 girls around you running. In high school, you wouldn't have that much depth running with you. That was the biggest change. The intensity of the training also went up a lot, but it's been a lot of fun.
GS: What's the most important thing you learned this season?
EP: It's probably that no one race defines you. It doesn't come down to one workout. Whether it goes great or whether it goes terribly, you have to stay level-headed. You have to be able to come back the next day and be ready to go and fight again.
GS: What's your favorite workout that the team does?
EP: It's surprising, but my favorite is mile repeats. It's an uncommon favorite.
GS: Do you have any pre-race superstitions?
EP: I always have to have mint in my mouth when I'm racing. I brush my teeth right before the race. Otherwise I'm not really a superstitious person.
GS: How has the jump to college been academically?
EP: It's been good. The first month was hard, just adjusting to everything. Now it's better. I'm getting a handle on the schedule. I'm studying kinesiology, so I'm looking forward to more of those classes.
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Players Mentioned
